1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a power semiconductor component and, in particular, to a power semiconductor having a precision resistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The European Patent Application, publication number 0 390 485, discloses a MOS pilot structure for a transistor with an insulated gate, whereby a metallic contact strip that connects, first, the terminals of the cells of the MOS pilot structure and, second, the MOS pilot structure to a metallic terminal region for an external precision resistor is provided between the cells of the transistor. A disadvantage of the device is that the precision resistor must be externally attached and the measuring precision and the dynamic behavior of the pilot structure can be negatively influenced by the leads, parasitic resistors and inductances. When the precision resistor is used for temperature measurement, then the temperature in the proximity of the endangered barrier layers cannot be reliably acquired with an external resistor, whereby the measured temperature partly deviates by up to 20 percent from the actual temperature.